'Cannibal' coronal mass ejection that devoured 'dark eruption' from sun will smash into Earth tomorr

[Judi Lynn]

(July 18)

By Harry Baker published about 8 hours ago

Two coronal mass ejections have combined into an enormous cloud of magnetized plasma that is forecast to hit Earth on Tuesday and potentially trigger a strong geomagnetic storm.



A coronal mass ejection (CME) being launched by a solar flare (highlighted) on July 15. The CME later cannibalized another CME that launched earlier on July 14 and is now heading straight for Earth. (Image credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory)


A "cannibal" coronal mass ejection (CME) birthed from multiple solar storms, including a surprise "dark eruption," is currently on a collision course with Earth and could trigger a sizable geomagnetic storm on our planet when it hits on Tuesday (July 18).

CMEs are large, fast-moving clouds of magnetized plasma and solar radiation that occasionally get flung into space alongside solar flares — powerful explosions on the sun's surface that are triggered when horseshoe-shaped loops of plasma located near sunspots snap in half like an overstretched elastic band. If CMEs smash into Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms — disturbances in our planet's magnetic field — that can trigger partial radio blackouts and produce vibrant aurora displays much farther away from Earth's magnetic poles than normal.

A cannibal CME is created when an initial CME is followed by a second faster one. When the second CME catches up to the first cloud, it engulfs it, creating a single, massive wave of plasma.

On July 14, the sun launched a CME alongside a dark eruption — a solar flare containing unusually cool plasma that makes it look like a dark wave compared to the rest of the sun's fiery surface — from sunspot AR3370, a small dark patch that until then had gone largely unnoticed, according to Spaceweather.com. On July 15, a second, faster CME was launched from the much larger sunspot AR3363.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/cannibal-coronal-mass-ejection-that-devoured-dark-eruption-from-sun-will-smash-into-earth-tomorrow-july-18

[snot]

1. Hmm,

I appreciate this kind of news; but the NOAA Space Wether Prediction Center is predicting only "Minor" Geomagnetic Storm Impacts for the 18th.

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

[jeffreyi]

7. From Spaceweather.com

"GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on July 18th as Earth's magnetic field continues to reverberate from a CME impact two days ago. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for photographic auroras (visible to the camera but not the naked eye) like these especially during the hours around local midnight."

[FirstLight]

2. Forgive me for being such a nihlist, but

I'd really like to see one of these suckers REALLY knock out some technology! Maybe a little wake up call to all of us how fragile our little 'technology advances' really are...

Sorry, I'm having a bad pain day and wishing for bad stuff must be my way of dealing with it...

[gay texan]

4. all of my vacuum tube gear will be like

"meh"

[Frasier Balzov]

5. So *that's* what's been responsible for the Texas heat!

[paleotn]

6. ....

[UpInArms]

3. Thank you, Judi Lynn

I always learn something new from your posts … this one did not disappoint

[WestMichRad]

8. So it's Tuesday... what happened with this?

Has it reached Earth yet? Or was it much less powerful than thought?